Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso 07-08
An extremely intimate action
I didn’t really think there was enough in last week’s Shigatsu to make a whole post on, so I put it off until this week, which I think ended up being a good idea.
Preparing for the Performance
Some separation between the two of them
And the pressure’s mounting on Kousei, as the competition draws closer and arrives. And he’s the last hope for a win among the middle school group, as Watari comes close but hits the woodwork with his last ditch shot in the soccer match. And he’s preparing as much as he can while still struggling with his memories. Memories like his mother abandoning his cat after it scratched his hand, all in service of his piano playing. But the difference is now that he has someone engaging him and drawing those things out of him. As close as he’s been to Tsubaki and Watari, they aren’t the type of people that he can really open up to about his mother or his music. And while the response he gets from Kaori is teenager inspire-babble, it’s also the kind of thing that a kid like Kousei would be inspired by.
“Who are you guys?”
And finally he seems to have figured out his motivation or image. We haven’t found out about it yet, because it’s not his turn to play, instead we’re learning more about the ‘rivals’ of Kousei. I use the quotes there because there hasn’t been a rivalry, there’s just been domination. Those two, Takeshi Aiza and Emi Igawa, have been 2nd and 3rd more times than they care to count, and were unable to beat Kousei when he was competing. He didn’t even really notice them, and certainly doesn’t remember them from back then. And since he hasn’t been competing, they’ve been going in somewhat different directions.
It *is* brave to watch the people perform before you
Different Trajectories
Maybe Takeshi does have a shounen power-up, just look at his hair
First up is Takeshi, who has seemingly flourished since the roadblock of Kousei Arima was removed from his path. Consistently winning competitions, raising his game, culminating in an invite to play in Germany, the “European invite” that seems to be the goal of all the performers in this show (including Kousei’s mother). But he gives the impression that while he’s been happy about it, he realizes it’s at least partly because that competition that he had fought against has evaporated. But he’s held out hope that Kousei would come back so that he can beat him. And now given his chance, he’s definitely risen to the occasion.
Does “Winter Wind” describe Emi’s performance as well?
Emi is somewhat the opposite, and yet still has been waiting for Kousei to come back for her own reasons. We get more of the background of Emi from her teacher, who while she’s playing is going through the history of Emi’s motivation, or lack of. Keeping her focused has been a struggle, with a mercurial personality that gets easily distracted and upset. Again, the goal of ‘beating Kousei’ is referenced, but as she’s playing it’s not as clear why she wants to beat him. It’s not just to prove that she’s better. Instead, it seems that her motivation is to draw out Kousei’s personality which was subsumed beneath his mother’s metronomic directive. Is it, as Kaori says, her “loneliness” without that goal of fighting Kousei’s mother that has been the reason for her loss of focus? Either way, that motivation is back, at least for today.
A couple of episode that seemed designed to introduce the two main foils for Kousei, at least as far as piano playing goes. Thankfully they weren’t too cartoonish in their motivation. It could really have gone off the rails if this had been some shounen-esque ‘battle’ (or even dumber, like Kiniro no Corda: Blue Sky). Instead it stayed realistic and focused on the playing, rather than some powerups, while it investigated the motivations of Takeshi and Emi. So next week, we’ll see what Kousei will respond with, what image he has conjured for playing.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Two wonderful piano pieces from Takeshi and Emi. Kousei, you have your work cut out for you. A metronomic performance won’t be enough, no matter how spot on to what the composer wrote. You’re going to need to put some feelings into your performance.
I wonder how much of Emi’s motivation regarding Kousei is “Look at me!” She was captivated by his performance when she was a child and that seems to have gotten her play the piano. So has her piano playing been partly driven by a wish to capture his attention, much as you would with someone you’re infatuated with and wish to have them become interested in you? With him no longer competing that would help to explain why her playing has been so erratic since then and why her performance now was at a level that brought the audience to their feet. What more could she do to try and capture his attention?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I disagree, I think a highly technical performance would still win it, even if it wasn’t passionate enough. As mentioned before, you’re judged on the technical aspects, not how moving your piece is (which is very subjective).
I’m a toss-up as to how I think Kousei’s performance will be. The likely performance in my mind, is a couple of missteps but he plays to his heart, which would recaptivate Emi and keep Kousei in the field. Of course, he could also spectacularly fail, or play straight out of the book with just enough skill to carry on to the next round (given his lack of practice).
While I like the current arc, I want to see more Kaori x Kousei playing! This better be a minimum two-cour show!!! Because if it just ends with Arima getting back to piano I’m going to (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ … I really like the interactions between the two.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It’s a 22-episode show (all noitaminA shows are 11 or 22 episodes).
I’m not sure how Kousei’s performance would go. All things would point to him being the same as always. One, he’s always played like that. Two, he’s had to practice by just playing the score, since he doesn’t get feedback as he plays. How could he do anything but play to the score, and play as metronomic as possible?
But then there’s Kaori, and her telling him to come up with an image. He’ll probably come up with an image of Kaori, because that’s the way this show is going.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Banzai~ ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ That makes me feel a lot better.
He plays like the human metronome and wins, and then Emi attacks him in an alleyway on his way home. Or he visualizes an image of his osananajimi or maybe even Ryouta… dun dun dun.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I’m glad they showed Kousei listening to the other two pianists. He often comes across as rather self-absorbed, so I enjoyed seeing him being able to appreciate the skills of others.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think what was surprising to Emi at first was that he was listening. He always *had* been self-absorbed, not concerned at all with whatever anyone else was doing.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Shounen Piano Battle! Makes me feel like Ben Folds is Gonna Rock this B!tch, while Billy Joel sounds like a carnival….Kidding, of course.
If I was to bet on it, I think Kousei will get out of his depth again. He hasn’t yet conquered that feeling, and perhaps his odd fan club will see that. That would make for a good reaction, and might plump those depths a bit more.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I liked Emi’s dress and performance. It reminds me of a similar dress I saw Yuja Wang in when she did a piano concerto locally. Well, the vivid red was the same, although I believe the dress was a bit shorter.
Emi > Aiza in my books. I like her back story too, and her personality is endearing. Right now Aiza’s motivation to win is weaker by comparison, unless there’s more to his story they haven’t fleshed out yet.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
I can’t help but laugh when they see all those colors when they are playing… It’s not like songs have colors and it’s not like in competitions, they would shine some special lightning effect on certain performers… Yet they are like “it’s red… of anger… and yellow…” I know it’s metaphoric but it feels kind of awkward.
But I like these two characters and their motivations. They aren’t simple oportunists who have risen after the fall of the best. They were always waiting for Kousei and you can see that they are so excited because he’s coming back while most people are like “geh, the human metronome is back”. And Emi could probably help Kousei with his question of who he is. She saw his first steps, when he was still himself and his own playing style. If she could somehow bring Kousei back to that playing style, he would probably find his answer.
And I can’t help but hope that she will be a competition for Kaori and Tsubaki =P We would probably get to know if Kaori likes Kousei or not.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Actually, I think the colors are an excellent representation of emotion. As someone who enjoys classical music and watching live concertos, it fits just right. Excellent performances can bring out the emotion of the player and the music, and everyone sees and feels it differently. It certainly is very different than watching a concert, because I have a very different experience.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Yeah, I know how emotion affects a performance in classical music and stuff. The colors are a great representation as well… I just wish they didn’t comment on the colors. If they said that they could feel the anger and the loneliness using the colors only to transmit these feelings to viewers, it would be better. I guess in the manga they would say the colors because it’s in B&W and you can’t hear the song but they could have cut it off from the anime.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I get where you’re coming from, because a few years ago I would have been “wtf, why are there colors here? Just show some musical notes”… Guess it’s one of those things where it really clicks with a certain crowd, and is less meaningful elsewhere.